Most emergency vehicles such as police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, etc. are provided with externally mounted emergency lights to attract the attention of motorists. Typically these lights are mounted in elevated position at the upper portion of the emergency vehicle such as in the case of flashing light systems for conventional police cruisers. If the emergency vehicle is extremely close to the rear of an automobile traveling in the same direction, the emergency light s may be above the range of visibility that is ordinarily permitted by the conventional rearview mirror system of the automobile. In such case, the driver of the automobile may not be aware that an emergency activity is in progress and therefore may unintentionally impede the emergency operation. Location of emergency lights at the roof of an emergency vehicle permits the lights to be visible from all directions. Though such is desired in many cases, in some cases it is detrimental to the intended use of the vehicle, i.e. unmarked police cars. In a few cases, the emergency lights are also located at the lower portion of automotive vehicles such as near the front bumper, in the grill work, etc. Here again, if the emergency vehicle is real close to the rear of an automobile traveling in the same direction, the emergency lights may be below the range of rear view vision of the driver of the automobile. The most logical location for emergency lights would then be at a location within the perimeter defined by the front wind screen or windshield of the emergency vehicle so that the location of the lights is always within the line of sight of a preceding motorist whether the emergency vehicle is far away or close to the rear of the motorist's vehicle. Obviously, this is not done in most cases because the emergency lights could then interfere with forward visibility through the windshield of the emergency vehicle.
In some cases, especially in the case of unmarked police vehicles, various emergency lighting systems may be provided inside the vehicle where they are not easily seen unless the emergency lights are being used. In other cases the officers using automobiles of this type will be provided with portable emergency lights that may be used inside the automobile or may be temporarily supported by magnets at the top of the automobile. Where emergency lighting systems are utilized inside the automobile they are typically considered undesirable because the light thereof is reflected inside the automobile and interferes with the visibility of the occupants. It is desirable, therefore, to provide an emergency lighting system that is usable inside an automotive vehicle and yet prevents reflected and refracted light from interfering with the visibility of the occupants and wherein the light units do not interfere with forward visibility through the windshield of the emergency vehicle.
In most cases spotlights for emergency vehicles are externally mounted and are typically controlled by a mechanical system that is operable from inside the automotive vehicle through manual manipulation of a control arm. These spotlights are independently mounted and actuated and are seldom used on unmarked police vehicles because of the attention they attract. It is desirable therefore to provide a spotlight mechanism that is mounted inside the vehicle and is movable so that it can be effectively used to light objects to the front and side of the vehicle. It is also desirable to provide an inside mounted spotlight mechanism that is manually controllable from inside the vehicle and may also be remotely controlled from locations outside the vehicle. It is also desirable to provide an inside mounted emergency light/spotlight system that also serves as a rearview mirror support and is intended to be mounted at a location normally occupied by a conventional centrally mounted rearview mirror and thus does not interfere with forward visibility through the windshield.
It is considered desirable to provide an inside mounted combination emergency light/spotlight assembly that may be mounted to the rear windshield of emergency vehicles as well as to the front windshield to thus provide additional emergency light visibility for attracting the attention of following motorists.